30 Tari - Manuel Pinto de Fonseca

Manuel Pinto de Fonseca held the Grand Mastership of the Order of St. John longer than any other in the eighteenth century — from 1741 until his death in 1773 at the reputed age of 92. The 30 Tari was the Order's principal large silver denomination, struck at the Valletta mint from Maltese-controlled bullion at a time when the Knights were still functioning as a genuine sovereign naval power, maintaining galleys and conducting operations against Ottoman and Barbary shipping.

The Tari system descended from the medieval Arab *tari* weight standard, absorbed into Sicilian and then Hospitaller coinage centuries before this piece was struck.